Favored Soul
You are a free agent of your deity, unfettered by the strictures of a clerical hierarchy. You wander from place to place, wielding your power to advance the causes you deem worthy in the eyes of your god, or else you choose a great crusade against that which offends your deity, requiring a lifelong commitment and unswerving purpose. While the cleric comes to his power through study and discipline, you are the recipient of a great gift--or, as some perceive it, a terrible curse. How you wield the divine power burning in your heart is up to you. Suggested Backgrounds (choose one): Asetic, Drifter, Noble, Scion. Suggested Personality Archetypes (choose one): Companion, Crusader, Innocent, Martyr, Prophet, Seeker, Wanderer. Alignment: Any Hit Die: D8 The Favored Soul The favored soul follows the path of the cleric but is able to channel divine power with surprising ease. She is able to perform the same tasks as her fellow divine spellcasters but with virtually no study; to her, it comes naturally. Scholars wonder if favored souls have traces of outsider blood from unions, holy or unholy, centuries ago and generations removed. Others suggest that divine training of the proper type awakens the ability or that favored souls are simply imbued with their gifts by their gods when they begin the cleric's path. In any case, favored souls cast their spells naturally, as much as through force of personality as through study. Though this gives them extraordinary divine abilities no normal person could ever match, they see their gift as a call to action, and so in some ways may lag behind their more studious colleagues. Adventurers Favored souls are often loners, wandering the land serving their deities. They are welcomed by their churches but treated as unusual and are sometimes misunderstood. They are emissaries of their deities and outside the churches command structure--respected mystics not requiring the support normally crucial to a priest's success. This makes them sometimes revered and sometimes envied by their cleric cousins. While favored souls are occasionally disrespected for their perceived lack of discipline, devout worshipers know that they are a powerful message from, and indeed a living manifestation of their deities. Characteristics Favored souls cast divine spells by means of an innate connection rather than through laborious training and prayer, so their divine connection is natural rather than learned. These divine spellcasters know fewer spells and acquire powerful spells more slowly than clerics, but favored souls can cast spells more often, and they have no need to select and prepare them ahead of time. Alignment Divine magic is intuitive to a favored soul, not a matter of careful prayer. This intuitive nature leads to a freer interpretation of faith and doctrine, and so favored souls tend slightly toward chaos over law. A favored soul is often the same alignment as her deity, though some are one step away. For example, a favored soul could serve a lawful good deity and be neutral good herself. A favored soul may not be neutral unless her deity is neutral. Religion A favored soul can be of any religion. The most common deity worshiped by human favored souls in civilized lands is Pelor, god of the sun. Among nonhuman races, favored souls most commonly worship the chief deity of their racial pantheon Unlike clerics, favored souls are not able to devote themselves to a cause of a source of divine power instead of a deity. Background Favored souls learn of their connection with the divine at a young age. Eventually a young favored soul understands the power that she has been wielding unintentionally. Favored souls as naturally inclined divine channelers are also born loners. Unlike clerics in a temple, they gain little by sharing their knowledge and have no strong incentive to work together. Races The innate talent of spontaneously channeling divine power is unpredictable and it can show up in any of the common races. Divine spellcasters from savage lands or from among brutal humanoid tribes (such as orcs or half-orcs) are more often favored souls than clerics. Other Classes Favored souls have the most in common with members of other self-taught classes, especially sorcerers, but also druids and rogues. They sometimes find themselves at odds with members of the more disciplined classes, specifically clerics, whome they sometimes view as too wrapped up in doctrine and rigidly defined attitudes. Role The favored soul serves as a groups backup healer and defensive magic specialist. She can hold her own in a fight, especially if she chooses to focus on powers that aid her in combat. Character Themes One or more of the following character themes could apply to you. Mystic You aspire to the divine in every aspect of your life. The difficulties and dangers around you are only temporary; you keep your eyes firmly fixed on matters of the spirit, which are all that truly matter. You have little interest in wealth, fame, or creature comforts, since these things are transistory too. Instea,d you see enlightenment, understanding, and spiritual growth. Some might see you as oblivious or irrational, but those are unfair characterizations. You simply have the ability to look past fear, pain, and suffering to the eternal rewards that will surely follow. You possess moral and physical courage in abundance, because you do not fear feath or injury. You don't go out of your way to get hurt or killed, of course, but there is no point in fearing pain or death whenyou know that your spirit will survive. While your comrades might not always appreciate your detachment from matters of the physical world, you are compassionate (or careful, at least, if you are evil) and fearless. Nothing discourages you. Seek out adventurers for the right reasons--aiding others, gaining knowledge, advancing the cause of your deity, or (of you are not good) hardening your soul and accruing power for the day when you leave your fleshly existence behind. Monetary gain for its own sake interests you little, but the growth you experience in taking on any challenging experience--such as recovering an ancient treasure--means that you do not necessarily spurn your companions quests for material gain. When circumstances permit, contemplate decisions carefully. You are not given to hasy action or impetuousness. Even in combat, you remain calm and deliberate. Speak slowly and thoughtfully; avoid undue excitement. When you encourage your friends, remind them that very little in the world around them has the power to do them true and lasting injury "Courage, friends; all this has happened before, and will happen again." "Pain is illusiory! It exists only in the mind." "True strength lies within. "Death is a doorway, nothing more. Fear it not." Prophet The hand of a deity is upon you, and you are not always in control of your words or actions. From time to time, you will give yourself over completely to the will of your deity, and say or do things that you had no intention of saying or doing. Driven by impulses you cannot control or understand, you might be capable of astonishing acts of courage or awful treachery--it all depends on the whim of your deity. When you play a prophetic character, you do not surrender control of your character to the Dungeon Master. However, you should ask your DM to look for the occasional opportunity to communicate unusual information through your character's words or action. When confronting an evil lord, your comrades might be inclined to guard their words and avoid a fight in the middle of his castle--but the prophet might suddenly blaze forth with ringing condemnation of the lord's secret wickedness, possibly enumerating crimes you and the other players had no direct knowledge of before hand. Even if your Dungeon Master does not provide you with ex cathedra ''material for the game session you should listen to your intuition. Don't watch your words and don't rethink impetuous actions. Take these impulses as signs that your character is caught in the grip of her deity, and let the chips fall where they may. Work with your Dungeon Master to create a few interesting prophecies for the campain. The best prophecies are ones that can come true in unexpected ways. ''"The third moon daws nigh; beware!" "One of you will fall tonight." "We shall triumph, and yet we shall fail." "I cannot see all that follows from the deeds of this day." Scourge of Unbelievers You are your deity's chosen instrument of vengeance, punishment, and righteous wrath. If falls to you to defend the innocent and harry the iniquitous. You are driven, never able to rest as long as your deity's enemies remain at large. Since you have an inclusive view of who might be considered an enemy of your deity that means you rarely rest at all. Examine your deity's alignment, description, and dogma or credo and create a list of creatures or people you need to smite first. Anybody not on that list is irrelevant...unless, of course, they can be recruited as allies in your ongoing crusade. When your adventures pit you against foes that your deity has no special distaste for, you chafe for the opportunity to finish up and return to what's truly important: bringin the wrath of your deity down upon his or her enemies. You are freqently inspired to scream or snarl imprecations, letting your foes know exactly who you are and exactly why you are punishing them. "Pelor's light will sear you, spawn of darkness!" "Pelor commands your destruction, infidel!" "Naught shall avail you against the might of Pelor, demon! I will hurl you screaming back to the Abyss!" Game Rule Information Abilities Charisma determins how many spells the favored soul can cast per day. Wisdom determines how hard the favored soul's spells are to resist. In addition to using Charisma and Wisdom for spellcasting ,a favored soul also benefits from high dexterity, strength, and consittution scores. Class Skills The favored soul's class skills (and the ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int) Skill Points At first level: (2+ Int modifier) x 4 At each additional level: 2 + Int Modifier Class Features Weapon and Armor Proficiency: '''Favored souls are proficient with all simple weapons, with light and medium armor, and with shields (except tower shields). A favored soul is also proficient with her deity's favored weapon. Although a favored soul is not proficient with heavy armor, wearing it does not interfere with her spellcasting. '''Spells: '''A favored soul casts divine spells (the same type of spells available to clerics), which are drawn from the cleric spell list. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time the way a cleric must. To cast a spell, a favored soul must have a charisma score of 10 + the spell's level (Cha 10 for 0-level spells, Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, and so fourth). The difficulty Class for a saving throw against a favored soul's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the favored soul's Wisdom modifier. Like other spellcasters, a favored soul can cast only a certain number of spells of each level per day. Her base daily spell alotment is given on the table above. In addition she receives bonus spells for a high Charisma. Unlike a cleric, a favored soul's selection of spells is limited. A favored soul begins play knowing four 0-level spells and three 1st-level spells of your choice. At each new favored soul level, she gains one or more new spells as indicated on the table below. (unlike spells per day, her Charisma score does not affect the number of spells a favored soul knows; the numbers are fixed.) Upon reaching 4th level, and every even numbered favored soul level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a favored soul can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the favored soul "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level favored soul spell the favored soul can cast. A favored soul may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to wap the spell at the time that she gains new spells known for the level. Unlike a cleric, a favored soul need not prepare her spells in advance. She can cast any spell she knows at any time, assuming she has not yet used up her spells per day for that spell level. '''Deity's Weapon Focus: '''At 3rd level, a favored soul gains the Weapon Focus feat with her deity's favored weapon. If the character already has that feat, she can choose a different one. '''Energy Resistance (Ex): '''At 5th level a favored soul chooses an energy type and gains resistance 10 against that type. At 10th level and 15th level, the character gains resistance 10 against another energy type of her choosing. '''Deity's Weapon Specialization: '''At 12th level, a favored soul gains the Weapon Specialization feat with her deity's favored weapon. If she already has that feat, she can choose a different one. '''Wings (Ex)': '''At 17th level, a favored soul gains wings and can fly at a speed of 60 feet (good maneuverability). A good-aligned favored soul grows feathered wings, and an evil-aligned favored soul gains batlike wings. A favored soul who is neither good nor evil may choose either type of wings. '''Damage Reduction (Su): '''A 20th-level favored soul gains damage reduction. If the character is lawul-aligned, the damage reduction is 10/silver. If the character is chaotic aligned, the damage reduction is 10/cold iron. A favored soul who is neither lawful nor chaotic may choose either type of damage reduction. Alternative Class Features Deity's Favor The favored soul enjoys the flexibility of spontaneous spellcasting, but her limited spell selection can hinder her ability to provide the healing expected from a divine caster. Choosing the deity's favor class feature means you'll be less potent in combat, but lets you use the spells you're already casting to help you and your allies last longer in a fight. Favored souls who choose this option should expect a lot of requests for support spells such as ''bless, bull's strength, ''and ''prayer, ''but remember that your ''cure spells gain this benefit as well *Level: 3rd *Replaces: If you select this class feature you do not gain the deity's weapon focus or deity's weapon specialization class features (you still gain proficiency with your deity's favored weapon). *Benefit: Beginning at 3rd level, whenever you cast a favored soul spell, you can choose any one ally affected by that spell (including yourself) to gain temporary hit points equal to three times the spells level. These temporary hit points last for up to 1 minute per level of the spell. If the spell would also grant temporary hit points, use only the larger value and its duration. If you use this ability on a creature that is still under the effect of arevious use, the temporary hit points overlap, (do not stack with) the temporary hit points the creature hat remaining. Beginning at 12th level, you can choose to grant these temporary hit points to any number of allies affected by the spell. Category:Class Category:Basic Class Category:Complete Divine Category:Players Handbook II